Deep-sea anchor



w. E. HAMILTON- 1,758,911

DEEP SEA ANCHOR May 13, 1930.

Vii-war,

Filed April 6, 1928 Zmvcntor HamIZZon Gttorncg Patented May 13, 1930 PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM E. HAMILTON, OF GOLUMBUS, OHIO DEEP-SEA ANCHOR Application filed April 6,

This invention relates to a deep sea anchor designed particularly for retaining relatively in positions on large bodies of water, vessels, barges, floats, buoys,signaling devices and the like, enabling each of such things to be retained in a relatively safe position when subjected to the influence of the elements for an indefinite period of time without material loss of position or damage to the anchor or the mechanism connected therewith.

One object of this invention is to provide an anchor of bell shaped form of such weight and form that when lowered it will sink into the mud, sand or other materials comprising the bottom or floor of the ocean and, as the anchor sinks, the said material will be forced upwardly into the interior of the anchor to form a core that will be retained by means of movable members, carried by the interior of the anchor, when the the latter is drawn upwardly, the core thus adding to the weight of the anchor to resist displacement thereof. A further object resides in so mounting the movable arms within the anchor that the materials comprising the bottom of the ocean or other body of water and forming said core, will be permitted to readily enter the interior of the anchor without resistance on the part of said movable members, the arm rangement of said arms being such that after the core has entered the anchor the arms or other equivalent members will assume positions preventing the escape of the materials constituting said core from the anchor particularly when the latter is drawn upwardly.

Other objects of the invention reside in the provision of valve means for releasing entrapped water from the interior of the anchor when the latter is filling with the materials constituting the core; in constructing said core retaining means to constitute pivotally movable arms which have limited swinging movement in an upward direction but are positively prevented from swinging in a downward direction to any extent appreciably below a horizontal plane; in forming the lower edges of the anchor with several teeth or other cutting edges to facilitate the penetration of the anchor into the mud,

sand or silt found at the bottom or floor of 1928. Serial No. 267,876.

the body of Water in which the anchor is positioned.

Further objects rest in the provision of means for connecting the anchor with a vessel or other floating device arranged on the surface of the body of water in which the anchor is disposed, said connecting means comprising aseries of buoyantly supported, flexibly connected sections, to the upper end of which is connected a chain or cable lead ing to the vessel or the floating device, the cable being adapted to pass around one end of a drum which is arranged on the floater vessel and has its other end weighted for the purpose of permitting of a limited amount of movement on the part of the floater vessel in response to wave or wind disturbances without affecting the position of the anchor.

It is another object of the invention, therefore, to provide means whereby the barge or float, buoy or vessel may be relieved of suddenor violent stresses as it is raised and lowered by the waves or to compensate for veering movement when responding to higher winds.

A further object is to provide means whereby the buoy or buoys that sustain the connecting rod or other suspending devices for the anchor, may free themselves automatically in the event such buoy or float becomes water logged by seeping or other cause.

For a further understanding of the invention reference is to be had to the following description and to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of a barge or float shown in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the barge or float and disclosing the anchoring mechanism therefor,

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken through the anchor proper, on the plane indicated by the line BB in Fig. 4. Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken through the anchor from the plane indicated by the line AA of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a large detail sectional view of tlfie' internal radial arms carried by the ani V Figure 6 is a detail plan view showing a portion of the submerged float used in supporting the anchor connecting mechanlsm.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the numeral 1 designates a float, vessel or barge or any other floating body which is adapted to be anchored in connection with relatively deep bodies of water. In this instance the vessel comprises a flat bottom structure. provided with an upwardly extending frame 2, which arises from the bottom of the vessel and a slot 3 is provided therein, the sides of the frame extending upwardly above the plane of the water level, which has been indicated by the numeral 4:. Mounted on the frame is a compound drum 5, which includes a portion of large diameter and another portion of smaller diameter. From the larger portion of the drum there is suspended an anchor 6, which is accomplished by means of rods 7 and a chain or cable 8.

hen the anchor reaches its depth and rests upon the bottom, the sections 7 and 8 are free to sway or move about to a limited extent in response to the influence of waves or wind currents. Moreover, the vessel 1 is permitted to respond to the vertical movements of the waves to relieve excessive strain from the anchoring mechanism.

To relieve this strain the chain 8 connects the upper end of the anchoring rod 7 with the larger part of the drum and connected to said drum and passing over the portion of smaller diameter thereof is a cable 9. This cable is trained horizontally from the drum 5 and passes over a sheave 10 arranged for rotation on the frame 2 of the well opening or slot 3. From the sheave 10 the cable 9 extends downwardly and has its lower end connected with a counter-balancing weight 11, which acts to neutralize any sudden strain from the chain 8 or the rod 7.

It is evident that any anchor heavy enough tosink to a great depth requires supporting means which also are of considerable weight. I therefore attach submerged floats or buoys 12 to the anchor rods 7 at suitable intervals, which floats will have sufficient buoyancy to retain the anchor rods in an approximately vertical position. These floats or buoys may be of any suitable construction but in the present instance the same has been shown as consisting of hollow balls, formed in compliinental halves, which are bolted or otherwise firmly secured together to produce a water tight enclosure. There are many ways of attaching the buoys or floats to the anchoringrod 7 However, the form shown in the accompanying drawings includes features of construction whereby, should the buoy or float lose its-buoyancy through leaking or other causes. it will relieve the anchor rods of additional weight by dropping off automatically. To accomplish this purpose the buoys or floats 12 are cast in halves and provided with the flanges 13 which are bolted together. A hole 14 in said flange is made to receive a pendant member or finger 15 which forms an integral part of a sleeve 16 and which is secured to one of the rod sections 7.

ibviously, in the event that the floats or buoysleak the same will become automatically disengaged from the finger 15 and thus remov d from the structure. The rod sections 7 may be of any desired length or numher, the adjoining ends thereof being pivotally connected together as indicated at 17. The anchor '6 is secured as at 18 to the lowermost rod section.

The anchor 6 is formed to include a hollow cylindrical body of substantially bell-shaped formation, the closed ends terminating in a conical portion 19 and at the apex of this conical portion the lowermost of the anchoring rods 7 is secured. The lower edge of the anchor is provided with serrated teeth 20, which are bevelled, sharpened or pointed so as to facilitate the sinking of the anchor into the bed or bottom of the ocean. A ball valve 21 or its equivalent is arranged in the top end of the anchor and permits air or water to escape through a port in the plug 22 and thence by way of a passage 23 to the exterior of the anchor. This construction enables the anchor to fill with mud, water and sand as itsinks into the bottom of the ocean or other body of water.

A series of heavy ears or brackets 24 are cast on the inside of the anchor in which arms or flukes 25 are held by means of pivot pins 26. These flukes 25 are prevented from dropping below substantially a horizontal position by the formation of the upper portions of the bracket 2%, but said flukes are free to swing upwardly, as shown by dotted lines. It is evident that when the anchor sinks to the depths indicated'in Figure 3, all of the flukes or arms will be raised, and any effort to raise the anchor will cause the flukes to drop and to resist the escape of the inclosed sand or mud core. which adds to the weight of the anchor. The area of the edge of the flukes is augmented by means of plates 27 which are riveted to or otherwise formed with the outer portion of the flukes.

In view of the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention provides an anchoring means for maintaining a floating body in an approximately stationary position on the surface of a body of water. Particularly the invention is applicable for the purpose of anchoring floats, vessels or barges in large or deep bodies of water and may be used particularly in connection with guide systems for regulating airplane travel over oceanic and other waterways.

hat is claimed is:

1. In anchoring mechanisms. an anchor body, suspending means for said body comprising a plurality of flexible sections, selfreleasing submerged floats carried by said sections, and means for uniting said sections with an associated vessel.

2. In anchoring mechanisms, an anchor, suspending means for said anchor including a section, a member connected with said section and provided with a pendent finger, and a submergible buoy connected with said fingers and automatically releasible therefrom in the event said buoy loses its buoyancy.

3. In anchoring mechanisms, an anchor,

suspending means for said anchor including a section, oppositely disposed pendent fingers rigidly carried by said sections, and buoys loosely connected with said fingers and adaptable to be automatically released therefrom in the event said buoys loose their original buoyancy.

4. In anchoring mechanisms, an anchor suspending means for said anchor including a section, a sleeve fixed to said section-and provided with a plurality of pendent fingers, a plurality of floats loosely connected with said fingers, each of said floats being provided with an extension having an opening formed therein arranged for the reception of one of said fingers.

5. In anchoring means, an anchor, suspending means for said anchor and plurality of floats associated with said suspending means for maintaining the latter in a substantially upright position, said floats being automatically releasible from said suspending means in the event said floats loose their intended buoyancy.

6. In anchoring mechanisms, a vessel, said vessel being provided with a well opening, a drum carried by said vessel contiguous to said opening, an anchor, suspending means for said anchor connected with said drum, a cable connected with said drum and a counter-balancing weight carried by said cable and operating normally to elevate said suspending means.

7. In anchoring mechanisms, a float, an anchor, a drum on said float, a cable connected with said drum and with the anchor, a second cable connected with said drum, and a counter-balancing weight carried by said second cable.

8. An anchor comprising an open bottom body formed to include an internal chamber, a check valve at the top of said chamber, and a plurality of inwardly extending flukes arranged within said chamber.

9. An anchor comprising a substantially bell-shaped body formed to include an internalchamber, and a plurality of pivotally mounted flukes arranged within said chamber, and means for limiting the movement of said flukes to an arc of not in excess of 10. In an anchor, a substantially bellshaped body, and a plurality of pivotally mounted flukes arranged within andwithout of said body, said flukes provided with enture.

WILLIAM E. HAMILTON. 

